Then There Were Three
by FutureFox
Summary: The remaining three heroes say goodbye to a fallen friend. Question is, who?
1. Sue's POV

Note: I don't own F4 or any of the characters. Enough said.

Rain drizzled down on the remaining members of the fantastic four. It matched the tears of Sue Storm.

She could build force fields and become invisible but she couldn't fight nor hide her emotions now. She scanned the cemetery. The whole city was there paying their respects to a fallen hero. She knew that they were all saddened but none of them were truly grieving. Except for her and her two comrades.

She looked back at the two of them. One of them gave her a weak smile. The other stared hard at the ground.

She smiled at this. He was even worse at dealing with feelings than she was.

She turned back to the mahogany coffin. It was closed now. The three of them had picked it out together. She reached out and touched it with her palm.

She leaned over it and whispered, "can you hear me? I love you." The coffin began to be lowered into the six-foot hole and she could watch no more. She covered her mouth with her hand a walked away. Her long blond hair blowing in the wind as the rain continued to hit her face, adding to her misery, mocking her.

She knew that the other two wouldn't come after her, that she just needed time alone.

She remembered it so vividly. It was a routine job. There was a mini van. It went over the bridge. Into the lake. There was a mother and two small children in the back. Three of them had dived in. One climbed into the mini van to retrieve the children. The van filled up with water so fast. The family was taken ashore. But he had been sealed in the van. The others had worked to get him out.

By the time they got him to the surface he had drowned. She refused to accept it. She cried. The family cried. Sue's teammates cried. It had been all over the News.

'Fantastic member dies in line of duty.'

She hated it. After all the dangers that they had faced to lose someone now over something this mundane.

She didn't know whom to hate for it. God? The stupid woman who drove her van into the water? Those kids who were unable to help themselves? The remaining two men in her life? Or the one who left her? The one with such a big heart?

Finally frustrated with the rain she threw up a force field over her head and dropped to her knees. She let her pride and strength diminish and sobbed loudly to the sky. She just prayed that he was watching them now and that her team, her "family" could survive this and live to see the sun again.

TBC

Authors Note: My fist F4 fic. I was reading around and couldn't help but noticing the lack of death fics. Don't mean to be a downer but I just enjoy the drama. So please be kind when you R&R, and please do R&R. Can you guess who's funeral it is? Well you'll find out soon enough.


	2. Reed's POV

Reed Richards watched as his fiancée walked away from the death scene in front of him. He turned back to the coffin and sighed heavily.

He was never good in situations like this. Funerals and such. Even though this particular funeral meant a great deal to him. He had no idea what to say to Sue. He didn't even know what to tell himself.

Ever since the four of them received their abilities they had all started to get under the thoughts that they were invincible.

Especially after they had beaten Doom. They raced into any danger without hesitation.

He never thought something like this could happen. Now they would be more cautious. Now Reed was afraid to let his girlfriend or his other friend out of his sight.

Since the death he found himself waking in the middle of the night and just watching Sue sleep. He could tell that she was dreaming. She would mumble incoherently now and again.

He went down the hall to the now only other occupants room and watch him. He knew this whole thing had been really hard on his friend. Especially since he and the deceased had a rocky relationship at best. He knew that guilt lay heavily on him and that he regretted a lot of things said over the years.

Then he would go back to a restless sleep of his own.

Reed's mind turned back to the present, the minister was finishing up. He was grateful for that. The awkwardness combined with the loss was really starting to get to him.

His mind wondered again. He thought back to that night. That water was cold. The children were screaming. He and Sue had worked to get the woman out.

He had been getting the kids out. Somehow the door slammed shut. They couldn't get it open. Or maybe they had just panicked. He hadn't panicked. He had been very calm in fact.

Reed had been running out of air. He fought tooth and nail to get Sue to the top. When they reached the surface he motioned for the other F4 member and they both dove back down. Sue cursed at him for pulling him away.

Finally they got the door open and pulled the lifeless body to the shore.

"Reed, is he okay? Is he all right?" Reed didn't answer. In stead he put his ear to the man's chest and listened.

A few moments later he slowly rose, "he…he's dead."

The doctor said that the massive water intake flooded his body causing his cells to burst long before he would have suffocated.

It hit the three of them hard. The two men looked at the body once in the morgue. Sue couldn't.

Now he could do nothing to comfort either of his friends or say anything to encourage the city that had grown to love all of them. People started to walk away.

He hadn't realized that it was over. Now what? Now nothing? That's it? He's gone? Move on?

He followed Sue, prepared to do anything she needed. He pushed his own pain down to save everyone else. So what else was new?

He was the last to walk away. The third stayed behind.

Authors Note: You guys rock. Thanx so much for the great reviews. Well it's not Reed and it's not Sue. And then there were two. Please R&R.


	3. The last POV

Ben Grimm stared at the polished rock in front of him.

Jonathan Storm

The Human Torch

He knew that he was alone now. Everyone else had gone back home. Sue and Reed would go somewhere and talk. He wouldn't bother them and they wouldn't bother him. Ultimately grief is a personal struggle. Then again for 'The Thing' everything was personal, he had to take everything alone.

He didn't cry. He didn't know if he should or even if he could. That made him feel even worse.

He sat down next to the freshly covered grave.

"Hey match stick. It's me, Wide load or Rocky, or…oh, I know you've got a million of them kid. Boy I wish you were here to throw one at me now. I mean what were you thinking? The Human Torch diving into the lake. Kind of defeats the whole fire purpose, doesn't it?"

Ben remembered holding the youth above the water as they got him to shore. At first he thought he had heard Reed wrong.

"He…he's dead." Sue dropped down beside her baby brother and shook him.

"No! Johnny? Johnny!" Ben looked at the boy's face.

He was frozen. How could the most vibrant, the most fun loving, excited just to be alive person he had ever known be dead? How could the baby of the team had been the first down?

It kind of made him want to give up. Bad guys died. Sometimes even victims died. The Fantastic Four didn't die. The Fantastic Four never died. They were heroes. And Johnny had fought for it the most. The only one who had embraced their powers.

He and Johnny had always thrown insults back and forth. That was their role. Reed and Sue had their mushy love and he and Johnny had their blind hatred.

Okay, hatred is way to strong a word. After all they were a team. And despite the drawbacks Johnny had been a friend. Ben felt very alone now.

He chuckled, "you know I bet if you could see me like this, hey if you could see any of us like this you'd be cracking up. Only you kid. What I really wanted to say is that I'm sorry. I guess some of the stuff that happened between us was my fault. Don't get me wrong it was mostly your fault but…I don't know what to say."

He put his hand on the recently disturbed dirt. Underneath held the body that he would never see again. The youngest Storm. The youngest superhero.

He wondered what Johnny would be thinking had their roles been reversed. Probably be joking to mask whatever true feelings he might have had.

Ben shook the thought away. He thought instead back to that night. It had been replaying every night in his dreams. Maybe if he had gotten in the water in the first place he could have just busted the door open and Johnny would still be here.

But quite frankly he had been afraid of sinking. Even Johnny's powers were fire he hadn't been afraid. As long as he could remember Johnny had never been afraid of anything. Ben had often wondered if the kid had a sense of self-preservation at all. Apparently not.

Suddenly Ben felt that he had lingered there long enough. He stood up and started to walk away when he noticed the rain had stopped.

He looked up and saw the sun shining through. He saw it blazing down on him and knew that it was a constant reminder but not a sad one anymore.

He smiled, "flame on kid."

The End 

Authors Note: Well there you have it. I know that it was kind of obvious that it was Johnny but oh well. I really hope that you enjoyed it. I've always thought that Ben would be the most challenging character to write that's partly why I saved him for last. That and second would have really given it away. I hope he wasn't to OOC. Anyway please R&R thanx buds!


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